Huawei To Set Up R&D Centre In Bangalore; Invest $ 150 Million

Shanghai: Telecom gear maker Huawei will set up a new research and development (R&D) centre in Bangalore with an investment of $ 150 million (about Rs 813 crore) in the second half of this year.

"Since 2004, we have invested around $ 200 million in activities around research and development. We are setting up new R&D centre in Bangalore with an additional investment of about $ 150 million to consolidate our operations under one facility," Huawei Technologies Head (International Media Affairs) Scott Sykes told PTI.

He said it will be set up in the second half of this year. In India, Huawei employs around 6,000 people out of which it has close to 2,500 people are working at its R&D.

This new facility will have capacity to house 5,000 people but the company is yet to firm up its hiring plan for India.

"Huawei is building capacity in India. Hiring will be done as per business need. We expect to see better business there in second half of this year" Sykes said.

The company peaked revenues of $ 1.2 billion in 2011, registering a growth of around 30 per cent compared to the previous year. The company's business had been almost flat in 2012, he said.

Huawei is also evaluating to shift its Indian global network operation centre (GNOC) to this new facility.

"We are looking to centralise our GNOC in India. Under the plan we may shift our GNOC under this new facility," Sykes said.

The company has about 500 employee at GNOC and manages services for Idea Cellular, Aircel, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices.